Archive for the 'Former Ducks' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some notes, quotes and other musings from the Ducks’ 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night …

-- It is time to get boring.

The Ducks’ penchant for one-goal games and comebacks might make them the entertaining bunch but the capacity for great theater doesn’t bring home a Stanley Cup. Strict, unyielding play (here’s looking at you, defending champion Kings), strong goaltending and timely scoring is the recipe that usually makes for a long playoff run.

In other words, they’ve got to win 2-1 or 3-2 games. Or 1-0. The Ducks have to get serious about playing a disciplined brand of hockey, not in the sense of staying completely away from the penalty box but sticking to their system, supporting each other on the ice and playing a simple, if unglamorous game.

They’re not doing that right now. An undermanned lottery-bound Columbus team repeatedly got prime scoring chances in the second period and cashed them in, turning around a 2-1 deficit after the first 20 minutes. And this came after the 7-2 shellacking by the Rangers on Sunday.

The Ducks acquired their second winger in five days, getting veteran Tomas Fleischmann on Saturday from the Florida Panthers for Dany Heatley and a third-round pick in this year's NHL draft.

Fleischmann, 30, has seven goals and 14 assists in 52 games with the Panthers this season. The 10-year veteran has 115 goals and 182 assists with Washington, Colorado and Florida.

His first season with Florida was his best as he had career highs of 27 goals and 61 points in 2011-12. Fleischmann also flourished under Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau when the two were in Washington as he peaked with 23 goals and 51 points in 2009-10.

The Ducks rank 10th in scoring with a 2.82 average but they've often found it difficult to finish plays and find the net consistently after having the league's top offense last season, scoring a franchise-record 263 goals.

Weather permitting, Fleischmann is expected to arrive in Dallas late Saturday and could make his debut Sunday when the Ducks face the Stars.

ANAHEIM -- The Ducks and Ilya Bryzgalov parted ways for good on Thursday as the club put him on unconditional waivers, with the veteran goaltender returning to his family on the east coast instead of reporting to the team's American Hockey League team in Norfolk, Va.

Bryzgalov initially accepted an assignment to the Admirals after clearing regular waivers on Monday but chose to head home after Ducks general manager Bob Murray was unable to work a deal, with no other NHL team showing much interest.

The chances of Bryzgalov remaining in the Ducks' plans this season and returning to the team were remote at best, even if he found his game again in Norfolk and became an insurance option again.

"At the beginning of the NHL season, I spent all of my time with my wife and my children,” Bryzgalov said in a statement released by the Ducks. “I drove my son and daughter to their practices and games and enjoyed life. I had no plans to return to the NHL this season until the Ducks reached out to my agent, Ritch Winter.

"I agreed to return because of my respect for the Ducks organization, the quality of the team they had assembled and my long relationship with Bob Murray and the team. Given the way things have worked out, I have decided to return home to be with my wife and children, who did not move with me to Anaheim.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – In one late June afternoon, Nick Bonino went from finally being a key offensive piece for the Ducks to someone needing to establish himself again on a new team in a new city.

Not just any city. The folks in Vancouver love their hockey and their Canucks. And they’ll spot one of their own when he’s out on the town.

“You get noticed on the street a lot more,” Bonino said Tuesday, chatting after the Canucks’ morning skate. “In Newport [Beach], no one really knows who you are. You’re just on the beach, going down to the Bear Flag and eating fish tacos and no one cares.

“Here you go grab a sandwich somewhere and a couple of people will come and say, ‘Nice to meet you’ or ‘Glad you’re here.’ It’s definitely pretty neat.”

Bonino is still getting used to that. His profile has certainly increased in Vancity after becoming the Canucks’ second-line center following the blockbuster draft-day trade that also involved defenseman Luca Sbisa in bringing Ryan Kesler to Anaheim.

MONTREAL – Saku Koivu never did learn much of the French language beyond bonjour and merci, which got him some flak as the leader of the Montreal Canadiens in a city and a province that worships those who don the bleu, blanc et rouge.

It won’t matter Thursday night. And it really hasn’t to the largely Francophone fan base since his highly commended 13-year run with the famed Les Habitants ended.

Love, or amour, is what figures to flow throughout the sellout crowd at Bell Centre on Thursday night. The Canadiens are honoring Koivu, their former longtime captain and Ducks center, in a pre-game ceremony before the two teams he played for begin their battle for two points.

Being that it’s the Canadiens and they do ceremony better than any other NHL team, it figures to be an emotional one. Hours before in a press conference, Koivu had no problem saying how nervous he was.

TORONTO -- It took some time and another organization to do it but Peter Holland has finally found his way in the NHL, playing every day now for his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.

Holland is starting to flourish. He’s not putting up massive numbers in his third season – seven goals and six assists in 31 games – but they’re already a career high and his ice time has jumped sharply as he’s earned the trust of Coach Randy Carlyle.

Instead of becoming the offensive-minded playmaker and scorer the Ducks saw when they drafted him in the first round in 2009, Holland has adjusted his game to become more of a two-way threat and improve in areas such as defending and penalty killing.

In the Leafs’ 6-2 win over the Ducks on Tuesday night, Holland had an assist and spent some time defending against Ducks star Ryan Getzlaf.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Having dealt with concussions and the enforcer role that is diminishing in the NHL, George Parros officially announced his retirement from the league on Friday after nine seasons.

Parros, 34, started with the Kings as an eighth-round draft pick in 1999 and also played for Colorado, Florida and Montreal. It is his nearly six full seasons with the Ducks where the Princeton graduate literally and figuratively made his mark.

An imposing figure on the ice, Parros was one of the league's leading pugilists and either prevented teams from taking runs at his teammates or came to their defense whenever they did. Parros racked up 812 penalty minutes in 356 games with the Ducks.

The big right wing was part of the Ducks' 2007 Stanley Cup championship team and his name is engraved on the silver chalice. And he was one of the most recognizable players in the league, thanks to his thick, black moustache that gave him added cool factor.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Ducks addressed their organizational depth on defense Thursday by acquiring Colby Robak from the Florida Panthers for defenseman Jesse Blacker and a conditional draft pick.

Robak, 24, had appeared in seven games with the Panthers this season and did not record a point. He has played in 42 games with Florida over the last four years after being selected by the Panthers in the second round of the 2008 NHL draft.

Robak will report to the Ducks and join them on their two-game road trip to Minnesota and Winnipeg. The Ducks witnessed the Manitoba native up close on Nov. 16 when he logged 17 minutes, 41 seconds of ice time in Florida’s 6-2 victory at Honda Center.

The Ducks will either surrender a fourth-round selection in 2016 or a sixth-round pick in 2017 based on the number of games Robak plays with them.

ANAHEIM -- Hang around the game of hockey long enough and strange things can happen. Like Ilya Bryzgalov potentially returning to the Ducks.

The team has brought in Bryzgalov on a tryout contract and it is highly probable that they will sign the veteran netminder as a response to current backup Jason LaBarbera breaking a bone in his hand on Saturday night against San Jose.

ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun first reported the move by the Ducks on Wednesday morning. The Ducks had been talking to Bryzgalov's camp but the diagnosis of LaBarbera's injury expedited the decision to bring in the netminder, who started his career with the Ducks.

A Ducks spokesman said Bryzgalov is meeting with the team's chief physician, Dr. Craig Milhouse, on Wednesday. Bryzgalov is not slated to travel with the team on its two-game road trip to Minnesota and Winnipeg but is expected to skate at Honda Center on Thursday.

ANAHEIM -- Jonas Hiller arrived at Honda Center on Tuesday morning in a matter unfamiliar to a place that's very familiar.

Hiller made his way to the arena as he has always done but this time it was from the Calgary Flames' team bus and not the usual trek from his home in Newport Beach. The veteran goalie is now a visitor in the place he called home for seven seasons.

"It’s definitely awkward," Hiller said, smiling as he set to face the Ducks hours later. "Just flaying in last night, it's a little strange. This is part of the business and I'll have to get used to it. No, it's definitely different than flying into another city."

Hiller has been through the ritual of facing his former team for the first time. Just a week ago, it was he who emerged victorious in Calgary as he got enough of a Corey Perry shootout try to send it away and preserve a 4-3 win for the Flames.